Group of neighbors picking up leaves and trash on a nice sunny winter day
You may have noticed a group of Wallingford neighbors picking up trash, leaves, and debris along the N 45th Street business corridor. More likely than not, these folks are part of “The Sparkling Wallingford Society,” an all-volunteer group dedicated to helping keep Wallingford’s sidewalks clean and free from trash.
The following was received from Carrie Johnson, founding member of the society:
This April will mark a year since The Sparkling Wallingford Society became an Adopt-A-Street group. Within the city of Seattle, our scope is 45th Street from the freeway to Stone Way. I’ve lived in Wallingford long enough to remember Spot Bagel, the Beeliner, and other long-since-departed businesses, and I have deep affection for the neighborhood, sometimes jokingly referring to 45th as our Champs-Élysées. There is always a sense of hope when you see a new business open. Yet the street has been through some hard times. During the pandemic, you could almost imagine the tumbleweeds rolling down the street. One has to admire our local retailers, particularly as tagging, break-ins, broken glass, and trash have become much more prevalent. The Sparkling Wallingford Society is meant to support our retail corridor. It’s also a gift I’ve given myself during unprecedented times.
Founding society member Carrie Johnson
During the past 11 months, we’ve collected 2,505 pounds of trash and have logged 192 volunteer hours. We’ve also shoveled up compacted leaves along curbs and sidewalks, and pulled weeds. Our volunteers are wonderful people, interesting and fun to be with. Some of them are my next-door neighbors, some are new friends, and one is my very supportive boyfriend.
Imagine 45th if more of us worked together! Beyond trash, we could pull the grass from around the trees and mulch, add some plantings and/or planters, and maybe try to stay on top of graffiti? Turn the abandoned Sun Cleaners into a temporary place to display art? Give Winchell’s back their dilapidated sign? Work with building owners to find retailers we’d love to see in the neighborhood. The city offers Small Sparks grants of $5,000 that would be well-suited to some of these projects. We currently have 17 members of Sparkling. We’re all busy, but somehow, we manage to get work parties together, usually 5-6 people at a time.
Please consider joining us. For more details and to find out when the next cleanup is scheduled, please email us.
Special thanks to Jenny at Adopt-A-Street for her tremendous support, our wonderful volunteers, and the City of Seattle for providing all of the necessary tools.
As an example of this supportive collaboration, in early February, the Sparkling Wallingford Society received the following email from Jenny:
Hi Wallingford Trash Enthusiasts a.k.a. The Sparkling Wallingford Society😉,
Just wanted to let you know that we’ve put in work orders to update the style of public litter cans in Wallingford. They will likely be installed this weekend.
Newly installed recycling and garbage cans on N 45th Street
Here are a few things to consider with this new style of cans:
They will be locked, so it will be difficult to add yellow bags to them. I do have keys, though, and happy to share these with anyone who is interested. You can always add your yellow bag next to the cans. Note, these cans are scheduled for collection on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so the yellow bags won’t stick around for long.
This new style of can has held up well in most parts of Seattle; however, graffiti has been an issue in a few neighborhoods (U-District & Cap Hill have been a tough battle ☹). We do have graffiti removal kits available if anyone wants to ‘adopt’ these cans (= check for graffiti on the cans and remove when present). I may be biased, but like litter pick-up, I find it to be exceptionally satisfying to remove tags from these cans.
And lastly, I’ll just put a plug in for everyone on here—if you see any issues with the cans happening (e.g., missed collection, damage, graffiti), please contact me directly.
What a great collaboration. Thanks to the Sparkling Wallingford Society for your efforts and for creating and organizing this opportunity for others looking for an outlet to support a livable Wallingford. Hope to see other volunteers out there keeping the sidewalks clear of garbage!
